I may be in the minority, but I actually would love to see Rick Nieuheisel back at UCLA. I believe he has paid for his past missteps and is gaining outstanding experience now in the NFL. Here are my thoughts:

1. Past success at Colorado, Washington, and NFL. I know his Husky stint ended ugly, but I am willing to forget.
2. Nieuheisel has the kind of cocky attitude we need at UCLA. He is good with the media and would give Pete Carroll a run for his money.
3. He’s been able to use Colorado and Washington to make mistakes (recruiting & gambling) that he should not make again at UCLA.
4. Through everything he has gone through, he is still a Bruin at heart. If Terry Donahue chooses Nieuheisel as his OC rather than Toledo - Nieuheisel becomes head coach rather than Toledo. We may have had a few scandals but at least UCLA football would have been interesting.

Can you believe I am actually saying that I would take a few scandals at UCLA over what I am currently seeing out of DORRELL. UCLA football has been SOOOOO BORING from so many aspects. Let’s get Nieuheisel back and make things interesting again.

1st mistake was TD choosing fat Bobby as OC. 2nd. Recc him for HC. TD jealous of Neu. Winner who would have obscured TD fast.
Neu betting was silly office pool variety. Otherwise NFL wouln’t have hired him. Neu or Norm Chow (better)Only NC was making more as an assistant than we pay HC.

Dennis Green

Every QB Norm Chow touches turns to gold. He developed so many QBs at BYU of all places, then ‘SC, and even NC St… and now Vince Young.

I think Chow would be great, but I agree with Jeff on Neuheisel. That guy would totally give Pete Carroll a challenge, plus he’s a bruin. If we could actually get either of those two guys, I wouldn’t complain.

Hire Norm Chow. I know UCLA doesn’t want one more Asian on campus, but Chow will turn the team around in 1 year. Guaranteed.

There’s no incentive for Chow to go to UCLA and compete against his old pal Petey, and bottom line is we need a proven HC. But as long as you are throwing around the big bucks, why not throw Jimmy Johnson into the mix?

Unfortunately, Guerrero doesnt read these posts or strong analysis both here and at Bruinsnation. He certainly hasnt responded to my direct emails either. Ill bet hes not looking yet, but will start to do so with 1-2 more (conference) losses, or one more total loss like Utah. At that time, I believe he needs a bit of a guide, an understanding of what alumni think and would put $ behind.

#1 we need to gain an audience with one of the LA Times writers and even do all the hard research work for him to show Guerrero what his options are printed in national press. #2, and Ive been saying this for years, there are the big money boosters who get an ear for $1M donations, then there are the Matt Stevens types and I have no idea why they get an ear, and then there is us - the poor slobs who buy the season tickets. We need to form an alliance - call it season ticketholder boosters, and commit a $ amount to be applied to the hiring of a new coach.

The reason UCLA doesnt pay good money for the coaches is alums assume UCLA gets its money from the government, but these days it gets less than 15% from the state, so budgets are thin until alums pony up the way they do at other top academic/athletic institutions. If we were able to use this site and the sister Bruin sites as collection points for pledges, much more powerful than pertitions, then perhaps we’d be bale to raise the $2M+ we’re gonna need to get Neuheisel or Chow.

WHat do you think?

I agree with Buycker; a coach like Jimmy Johnson with a proven record of success in the NFL and college would instantly give UCLA credibility and 5 star recruits would follow soon after. Terry Bowden would also be a great choice.

how about the head coach of fresno st.?

Kelly

here is our opinion …

1st no one knows how Guerrero gets his information. If he doesn’t have someone on staff taking the pulse of the UCLA community (which unavoidably include internet sites now) then he is very out of touch and behind the times. All indications are the opposite. We know he seeks alum ideas personally.

2nd we have relationships with many in the media … they admit they get their ideas from sites like ours and BN.

3rd the alliance you speak of is our site. We are the main organizing body for all alums who want Dorrell gone, along with sites like BN. When Dorrell loses his first pac-10 game our campaign will be far reaching and everyone can participate … we have close to 2,000 visitors a day to this site now. There will be more once Dorrell loses again. There will be a movement and you can be a part of it and let all your Bruin friends know about it.

finally, Dan Guerrero has shown he is willing to pay for a top-notch coach in Howland, Savage, and the soccer coach whose name escapes. There is no reason to think he cant find the money for an experienced winning football coach. Also, Boise State’s Peterson makes $550,000 … we can double his salary easily. If he needs money he will let the public know, including us and other Bruin sites. We stand ready to help. We dont think anyone assumes that UCLA=government.

Hope that helps …

Norm Chow wants a head coaching job. He’s interviewed for every major opening on the West Coast for the past 3 years. He’s a proven winner, and would take the UCLA job in a heartbeat. WHile at USC, he was the highest-paid assistant coach in college football. He’s got two strikes against him:

1) He’s over age 60 (61, I think)
2) He’s Asian

Rick Neuheisel, Baltimore Ravens OC, 46

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Neuheisel

He’s gotten his infractions committing out of his system, he’s older, wiser and just what we need. He freaking knows how to win in college and is currently working in the NFL. His analysis of the WCO working in college is spot-on.

Besides with our compliance department reigning him in he’ll be fine! UW had been on probation for recruiting violations and other NCAA infractions how many times BEFORE Rick??

DumpDorrell:

Appreciate the quick opinion. Couple things. Petersen is up to $850K with incentives that take him over a mil, so similarly priced to Dorrell, and one would think within our reach though his public statements say he’s bought into growing Boise State. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/wac/2007-02-23-petersen-contract_x.htm

We’d probably have to get him 2 mil to look at us, but Id be up for that. His run to and thru the Fiesta last year showed mastery in so many areas Dorrell cant fathom: PR to get his team into a BCS bowl, strategy but not to the point of confusion, but fun for both players and fans, balls to call the right play, and ability to win with modest talent which would be a nice plus to see us have 8+ win seasons in his first couple years. I dont know yet if he recruits well. Can he flash a smile better than Pom Pom Pete and compete for those LA based 5 stars? I hope he can.

Interestingly, he has a bit of a Guerrerro connection in that he started his career at UC Irvine, but left the year Guerrero started as AD there. Dont know if there was any overlap. Being a UCI undergrad, I wonder if he would see UCLA as his dream job, knowing the innate recruiting advantage he would have. One can hope.

I like the idea of consolidating our interest through sites like these, but think we have to show more than petitions. Guerrero needs to show evidence of financial support to convince UC Regents to pay a coaches salary 4-5x the Chancellor’s. (mean Gene gets $450K I believe). He has to have outside moneys to work with cause regents will pay only so much and adiddas money is only another half mil.

Could happen tho. Better shot with Mean Gene at the helm anyway. Carnesale was such a damn nerd. Did you see Gene was in the locker room after the game at Stanford? He traveled for his first UCLA football game. Good sign there.

You guys arnt capable of paying Chow, or any top coach what they are going to be asking for, im not being harsh, that is reality, and that is why you are stuck with Duhrell now.

For the record, I love Duhrell though. I hope you guys keep him for a LOOOONG time.

If you love dorrell then wtf are you doing on this site. GTFO here you stupid trojan. If you’re guessing how I figured that one out, it was your grade school level grammar that gave it away.

W.garcia brings up a good name: Pat Hill of Fresno State is gutsy and a very good coach, but he’s lost the recruiting wars up there. I doubt if he could ever out-recruit Pete Carrol down here. I still think we need Bruin blood, loyalty to the colors, and Rick Neuheisel remains the best candidate.

Rick Neuheisel needs to be the next UCLA hire. He’s always said this is his dream job, he is a former UCLA QB, and he deserves a second chance at head coaching. Honestly, how many quality, high-profile coaches out there would call UCLA their “dream job?” It would be a perfect fit. A quality head coach who actually wants to be at UCLA rather than using the gig as a stepping-stone to a higher profile position. Not that Neuheisel would turn down a head coaching opportunity in the NFL, but I don’t think he would leave UCLA to become the next head coach at say, LSU, for example. Hire Neuheisel for 2008!

I don’t think Norm Chow is the answer. He’s been trying to get a head coaching gig for awhile now and he keeps getting turned down. There has to be a good reason one of the best offensive minds in the game keeps getting turned down for head coaching positions.

TD:

Strongly agree with both of your positions. Done. I’ll give Guerrero a call and let him know we’ve made our decision, and he now has 3 months to get the deal done.

Seriously, it would be nice if there was a device that this site, BN and others could come up with where we polled the fans, ranked and provided rationale for recommended hires.

Rick Neuheisel is the man! So he got caught for participating in a high stakes football pool… who cares? The best thing about Rick is that he has a creative offensive football mind, and he’ll scrap this disaster we have now known as the West Coast offense, something so complex that Cal Tech graduates would probably have a tough time understanding it. Neuheisel is also similar to Pete Carroll in terms of his demeanor on the sideline — he’s a rah rah guy, just the opposite of Dorrell. I challenge anyone to find a tape of a game where Dorrell paces up and down on the sidelines where he’s actually talking to someone! And I’m including talking into the headset! Has anyone ever seen Dorrell uttering a word to a player or into the headset? Neuheisel is so obvious as a choice that Guerrero has to see it.

“There has to be a good reason one of the best offensive minds in the game keeps getting turned down for head coaching positions.”

Yeah, he’s Asian. Conversely, there are good reasons why 97% of Div 1 football coaches are white. It’s because they’re white.

I think Neuheisal has too much baggage and there’s no way UCLA would hire him.

Pat and all who think Neuhisel has too much baggage consider two things:
- he was never convicted of anything and in fact won damages from both UW and NCAA for wrongfull termination
- Barbara Hedges was the AD at UW….I former TROJAN!!! who ran him out.

You don’t think Rick wouldn’t love to come back to the PAC 10 and kick some ass??

All it was was a little office pool shit. He should have been the OC and HC. Thanks to to Donahue he wasn’t.

Neuheisel … we are going to remain neutral in the replacement debate for now … but we will point out that we currently have a coach on the sidelines that is a 3-time convict … for offenses as recent as 2 years ago that included unregistered guns. Just sayin.

Dump Dorrell - are you aware that in June of this year Dorrell and his coaches stiffed Lakeside Golf Club and an event put on specifically for UCLA Coaches. Evidently it is 30 year tradition. It was a last second notification. It was an insult and further indication that KD is not suited represent an institution like UCLA on or off the field.
The organizer sent a scathing letter to Dorrell and cc’d Guerrero. I have a copy if interested.

Re: Norm Chow
“It’s because he’s Asian”

Well, that’s as good a reason as any, ha ha. Just kidding, just kidding.

In all seriousness, I think you mentioned an important factor in his inability to get a head coaching job: his age. The trend nowadays is to hire somebody “young” (mid-40s or below), especially if the coach in question has little or no head coaching experience. One of the problems with Chow is that he would be a 61 year-old rookie coach. If you look at the corporate world, there are probably very few first-time executives who are of that age. People are reluctant to take a chance on somebody of that age who has no experience at the top. He’s nearing retirement age! Plus, I think there are worries on the recruiting front as to how well he would relate to young people to convince them to go to his school. Maybe he’s a great coach but not a good salesman. You have to be both in the college game.

I really don’t think it’s because he’s Asian. Maybe there are some schools that wouldn’t consider him because of that, but I think the majority wouldn’t care. If he’s determined to be the best guy for the job, he’s going to get the position. No one has determined he’s the best guy for the job yet. Like I said before, everybody knows he is one of the preeminent playcallers in the game, but it might also be true that he’s not a salesman (ie recruiter), which is something that would be revealed in a job interview.

Doug

we had not heard of this and yes we’d like to see the letter and get more details. contact us with your email address .. and we will continue this offline.

Get rid of this lazy ass coach; ever see a real coach run a real offense?; all I have to do is look across the Bay Bridge and see Jeff Tedford burning the 4:17 A.M. oil at UCB. The answer is to hire someone who wants the job so badly and is QUALIFIED, and wants to exact vengeance on every team- especially DIRT SC aka O.J.U- it’s time to hire Rick Neuhisel; BRING BACK RICK NEUHISEL.

I’ve been reading a lot of the messages coming in for the dismissal of coach Karl Dorrell and the time really has come for Dan Guerrero to find a coach that can take all these talented young players to a National championship. That is right; a national championship. If USC can do it, we can to. We need a good coach. The talent is there and a good coach will finally get some 5 star players that Karl Dorrell has never been able to get.

It is more than just an office pool that makes me think he has baggage. I don’t know how this all ended up but, according to this, Neuheisal left the Univ. of Colorado right about the time the university was informed of these allegations and was replaced by Gary Barnett.

http://www.colorado.edu/news/cgi-bin/print.cgi?year=2002&id=187

Fact Sheet: University Of Colorado At Boulder NCAA Violations Investigation
The University of Colorado at Boulder has received a letter from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) alleging violations of NCAA football recruiting rules that occurred in recruiting seasons 1996, 1997 and l998. Copied below is a fact sheet on this letter with information on the NCAA investigation and our plans for response.

University of Colorado at Boulder

NCAA Violations Investigation

Contact:

Dick Tharp, 303-492-7931

Dave Plati, 303-492-5626

April 11, 2002

The University of Colorado at Boulder has received a letter from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) alleging violations of NCAA football recruiting rules that occurred in recruiting seasons l996, l997 and l998. Rick Neuheisel was coach of the CU football team at that time.

Chancellor Richard L. Byyny has asked his Committee on Compliance, chaired by Provost Phil DiStefano, to investigate the allegations, compile requested documentation, and provide a full report to the NCAA on or before the deadline of June 27, 2002.

In January, 1999, NCAA alerted CU to the possibility of recruiting violations based on a news article about a recruit’s visit. We responded to that request for information. At about the same time, former coach Rick Neuheisel left and Coach Gary Barnett arrived to head up the football program. Upon coach Barnett’s arrival, the Athletic Department conducted an internal audit and began self-reporting on rules violations cited as they were discovered. While the university was formally informed of the NCAA investigation of recruiting practices in July, 2001, we have cooperated fully with the NCAA investigation over the past three years and will continue to do so as the Committee on Compliance responds to the NCAA. In fact much of the written documentation requested in the letter has already been provided.

Many of the violations cited in the letter are secondary, self-reported violations. These include such items as: A CU staff member phoned a walk-on player after he had transferred to a different institution; excessive reimbursement for mileage to recruits ranging from $3.20 to $35.76; $15 in excessive entertainment money to each of three student hosts of recruits; use of a hotel game room at a cost of $3 over the limit for some recruiting week-ends; provision of TV station tours and a gift of a mock interview tape; and allowing a newspaper reporter from a recruit’s hometown to be present during a campus visit.

All of these particular secondary violations were self-reported, but remain as part of the NCAA investigation so that the entire file can be closed at once.

Other allegations included:

1.Football coaching staff under Rick Neuheisel’s direction regularly making in-person, off-campus “contacts” with prospective student-athletes outside of appropriate contact periods. Seven of 25 recruits cited as impermissibly contacted ended up playing for the University of Colorado.

2. Failure to recover athletic apparel provided for campus visit week-ends and inadequate equipment room monitoring.

3. Use of a private jet without proper documentation by then-coach Neuheisel for recruiting.

4. Attendance at a prospect’s baseball game by an unauthorized athletic department staff member.

The accumulation of these violations led the NCAA to allege a lack of institutional control primarily by Coach Neuheisel and his recruiting staff.

Since the alleged violations outlined in the letter occurred, the CU football program has undergone significant changes guided by Coach Gary Barnett. The changes made by Coach Barnett involve both recruiting and internal monitoring practices.

Since Gary Barnett joined the staff, CU has undergone a compliance review by the Big XII, completed in October, 2000. CU was commended for an institutional commitment to rules compliance .

Neuheisel, Barnett…Seems like there might be baggage everywhere BUT… extra baggage aside would UCLA be any worse off with Neuheisel? Or Chow? Or???

Big time NCAA college football is not your father’s football anymore. It’s big business and with regard to hiring a head coach and a staff that can take you to a national championship “Ya get what ya’ pay for!”
Ridiculous to consider or even banter about the likes of Terry Bowden, Rick Neuheisel, etc. They’re not going anywhere for peanuts. Pom Pom Pete doesn’t get you national championships for free! Want to compete? Pay Up!

ESCUUUSE ME for goin’ on but has anyone read the latest quotes from Dork Durrell in the LA Times? Try this on…

“Kenneth Lombard went back to defense and that was something on his own volition. He wanted to go back; he tried out running back and the grass is greener on the other side type of thing, so he went back to defense today. And that’s good because he’ll be able to help us at some point.” Now at about 230 pounds, he’s not longer able to play defensive tackle and defensive end is more likely. “I know he’ll put some [weight] on as we get going,” said Dorrell. “He’s happy to be back.”

SHIT! Are you kidding me?!! 3 games into the season and two days away from a PAC-10 opener and this clown is STILL trying people out at different positions AND “allowing” them to dictate what side of the ball they would rather play on!!

Great discussion, folks. I hadn’t thought of the recruiting angle on Chow. However, many head coaches leave the job of primary recruiter to assistants. Ron Zook, for instance, at Florida was known as an outstanding recruiter, but a poor game-day coach.